This Cattleya species is a highly variable one from Brazil. The plant photographed here is one of the coerulea varieties (meaning blue – or in this case a bit blue) and is a semi-alba in that the petals and sepals apart from the lip are pure white.

The more common forms have pink petals and purple on the lip although the shape is also very variable and we have the ‘orlata’ variety in flower too (see below)

Thje species is bifoliate (two leaves on each pseudobulb) and comes from the Mata Atlantica (coastal Eastern Brazil) where it grows in forest up to about 1000m and so is warm to intermediate growing and seems to love our Warm Americas Section (Minimum 15C)